Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Army of India 1799-1826, 1 clasp, Maheidpoor (W. Smyth, 22nd Lt. Dragns.) short hyphen reverse, officially impressed naming, suspension claw re-fixed with solder, edge bruising and contact marks, therefore fine £1,200-£1,500

Provenance: Sotheby, February 1886; Glendining’s, February 1921, November 1921, December 1922, March 1929, November 1929; Spink, December 1986.

William Smyth was born in the Parish fine St Bries, near Whitehaven, Cumberland, and enlisted into the 22nd Light Dragoons on 22 June 1809 and served with the regiment ‘in the Mahratta Campaign of 1815, 1816, 1817 & 1818 and was present at Maheidpore and Talnair.’ He volunteered to the 13th Light Dragoons at Bangalore on 14 September 1819, then aged 28. He was discharged at Bangalore on 30 November 1836, his conduct being described ‘Bad, the numerous deductions from his Pay and Services having arisen from the Crime of Drunkenness.’